A militant environmental group opposed to the East Coast seal hunt was forced to flee the French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon on Friday after angry fishermen cut the mooring lines of the group’s flagship vessel.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society sparked outrage earlier this week when the group’s leader, Paul Watson, said the recent deaths of three seal hunters north of Cape Breton was a tragedy, but the continued slaughter of seals "is an even greater tragedy."

On Friday, Watson’s vessel, the Farley Mowat, was confronted at the wharf by two dozen residents of St-Pierre, the capital of the French territory south of Newfoundland.

Police confirmed local fishermen confronted the activists and the ship left after its lines were cut with axes.

Fisherman Carl Beaupertuis, 47, said when he heard Watson’s comments about the sealers killed in a capsizing last Saturday, he was furious.

"We cut the ropes … because the fishermen of St-Pierre don’t accept what Paul Watson said," he said. "He’s not allowed to come in the harbour any more. It’s finished for him."

Watson later confirmed he had left St-Pierre-Miquelon after the tense confrontation. [Cnews via Tim Blair]

What is really funny is that Watson says he is going to make a legal challenge in a French court against the fishermen for forcibly removing them from the island. This is especially ironic considering Watson’s group has consistently assaulted Japanese whalers. Watson should consider himself lucky the French fishermen didn’t throw acid at him like he consistently does at the Japanese. The Canadian government also said in the Cnews article that they plan on pressing charges against Watson for interfering with the annual seal hunt. It good to see that the French and the Canadians are not tolerating the eco-loons from Sea Shepherd.